


May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favour

by Coraleeveritas



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, F/M, Inspired by something I saw on tumblr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 01:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22423960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraleeveritas/pseuds/Coraleeveritas
Summary: Inspired by a post I saw on Tumblr, and a couple of collages my friend made for me, here is the start of a Hunger Games AU told from the perspective of the mentor (Brienne).
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 18
Kudos: 47





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This prologue type ficlet is a bit on the angsty side for me and is really just a character study but I hope you like it anyway. I'm a quiet Haymitch/Effie shipper and I love an AU with a gender swap so here we go again, lol.
> 
> Apologies for any mistakes, this was written in about an hour and has not been beta read. It's probably not my best idea, but I'm honestly happy to be writing properly again.
> 
> Anything you recognise doesn't belong to me, as always, I'm just borrowing characters and situations in the hope to bring about some happy endings for our favourites.

It had been fifteen years since Alysanne O'Tarth's name had been pulled out of the tribute bowl and fifteen years since Brienne had volunteered to take her tiny, innocent sister's place in the brutal tourney Kings Landing put on every summer.

Some days it felt like a lifetime ago, but every so often, like the mornings they announced the new cast of doomed characters unlucky enough to be pulled in the next game, Brienne was eighteen again and right back in front of the Kingsguard, screaming to be heard above the crowd. Nobody had wanted or expected her to win that year, but against all the odds, plus support and guidance from her appointed mentor, Goodwin, that came every time she thought hope was lost, she'd been the last one standing. And yet all the money they offered to keep her a silent co-conspirator hadn't stopped her little sister from dying not six months after Brienne returned to their district.

Today would be her first tourney since Goodwin's own death over the winter, and the first time she would be taking up the mentor mantle. Even now, she wasn't sure she was ready to face Kings Landing again and what the next few weeks would entail. The training and the nervous anticipation. The heartbreak and the unnecessary loss. The old acquaintances and new friends she'd have to make in order for her children to survive longer than a few hours.

Brienne didn't know how Goodwin had done it for so many years and not gone mad somewhere along the way. After all she'd seen first hand how the burden of winning affected different people in different ways and there weren't many who became kinder or gentler for it.

For every Goodwin there were a dozen Jaime Lannister's. Originally a promising athlete from a well known family, Jaime was was the only survivor to be thought to have cheated his way to the end, now spending his days in isolation, self-medicating his way down a rabbit hole filled with bitterness and depression if rumours were to be believed.

In some ways, what had come to pass wasn't even his fault, Jaime had simply played the game better than the nation's favourite, Aerys Targaryen. During any other year his pretty face, obvious physical strength and love for the sister who had been savagely killed the year before would have found favour with the viewers, but his father's influence kept the public from seeing the Lannister in the ring as just another scared, wounded teenager completely out of his depth.

Brienne had been too young back then to understand the outcry, though now she knew him a little, not the legend or the lie but the awful man himself, she knew to avoid him at all costs. And she could have kept her distance quite happily, if only Kings Landing hadn't chosen Jaime to be their representative, granted the unenviable task of drawing two names and escorting her and the soon to be named children to the capital.

How they were meant to be a team when they couldn't stand to be in the same room as each other, Brienne didn't know. Though she was going to do her damnedest to make sure it didn't affect their tributes' chances.

Checking her reflection in the mirror one last time as she pulled on her jacket, the scar on her cheek an unwelcome reminder of her time she danced so close to death, Brienne sighed. She thought she'd had no chance against the boys that day, no chance and no choice, and even going home hadn't given her much respite from the moral dilemmas that Kings Landing kept asking her to juggle with.

Brienne belonged to them now. Her win had been their win and she'd been too young and terrified to see it.

Goodwin had promised there would be an end to this all one day. Opening her door as she sent a prayer up to the Gods that had surely forsaken them all, Brienne could only hope that day would come soon.


	2. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jaime arrives in the North and the tributes are chosen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter! I'm so glad you liked it! Here's Jaime's intro. Still not quite sure where exactly I'm going with this all but I'm enjoying writing it!
> 
> Thank you to hellyjellybean for giving this a quick look over for me :)

Jaime Lannister drew back the heavy velvet curtains and immediately wished he hadn't, groaning when the early morning light momentarily blinded him. It was still far too early for any sensible person to be awake, not that _that_ was something he had ever been accused of, and he'd been on the train heading further north than north for hours. With a nasty hangover and far less time to sleep than he would have liked. Still, he knew most of his fellow winners had it worse off that morning, the next few weeks of their lives were going to be brutal while he just had to plaster a smile on his face for twenty minutes while pulling two names out a bowl.

Sometimes he was glad he would never be called upon to be a mentor. Sometimes he hated that he never had a chance to show his true self to the world.

One of the silent servants had placed an envelope beside his empty glass at some point during his nap, the embossed cream paper taunting him with what was hiding inside. He should have been used to the sudden appearance of such things, the personally ordered missions from the President had been arriving at his door on a monthly basis ever since he had survived his tourney. Though if any of the others received similar requests, they didn't deem it appropriate cocktail party small talk.

This particular one wasn't too different from his nights in the capital, back when his face was enough of a distraction from his mangled right hand and sudden onset alcoholism. He didn't know who those women were or why the dates and places were so important, but he did his duty when asked, kept his brother safe from the Kingsguards' threats, even as they ate away at his soul. Still, he was surprised to see _her_ name on the page in front of him.

_Brienne O'Tarth. 10am. Eastwatch House._

He remembered Brienne, remembered her win in the arena, when she was willing to throw away everything to save the Dornish girl she'd befriended, but most of all he remembered her disdain for the pomp and circumstance of Kings Landing afterwards. She didn't fit into the boxes the capital imposed; too uncouth, too ugly, too innocent even after the tourney games, so when Jaime heard she'd retreated back to the north it had made perfect sense. She may have been a winner but she wasn't one of them, not really.

She hadn't belong to the capital the way he did. Not back then.

_We are now approaching Winterfell Central, please make sure you take all your belongings with you when you leave the train. Thank you for travelling Varys Rail._

Brienne hadn't even trusted him enough to hold her plate at the last event they'd been at together. She would never have asked for his services by name even if fate, and the ever painful passing of time, meant she had just become a newly minted mentor.

"Seven Hells!" Jaime swore as soon as he realised how quickly he had jumped to the wrong conclusions, yet again.

Every announcer had to partner up with a mentor, at least until the televised section of the tourney began. It had been too long since his involvement was needed and he'd forgotten the carefully orchestrated dance that happened behind the scenes. A weird sense of relief flooded his body as he realised the delivery of the note was nothing beyond the capital reminding him who was in control, even this far into the districts.

He tried to ignore the tiny slither of disappointment that tickled at the back of his mind at missing out on seeing Brienne's astonishing eyes grow dark with passion instead of the usual anger.

The train door whooshed open with very little effort, blowing a flurry of snow that should never have existed in the spring. He should have prepared for this better. His beautifully tailored coat was too thin for this kind of weather, his shoes had no grip and he was sobering up far too quickly.

Jaime hated the fucking north.

**************

It took no effort at all to pull the papers and doom two children to an untimely death.

Arya Stark and Gendry Waters.

Much like his own reaping, there had been no applause or tears when the boy's name was read out. The girl, well the girl was something he'd never seen before in the best part of three decades as a player in the games. Certain districts, his own included, trained their tributes from birth to compete in the capital though even those warriors in waiting didn't bring barely concealed weapons to a televised event.

If Jaime didn't know better, he would have thought she actually wanted to follow Brienne's dour head into the fray. If he actually had been sober enough to care, he might have even asked why.

"You'll get ten minutes with your families and then we have to head to the station," Brienne told the pair, deliberately not looking in his direction. "I know this must be scary but-"

"I'm not scared," the girl, Arya, replied, jutting out her chin as she glared up at Brienne. "I've been to the capital before."

"I'm not either," the boy added, full of misplaced optimism and bravado. "My name was in nearly fifty times today, I was expecting to go."

Brienne clearly hadn't prepared for this particular scenario. On another day it would almost be endearing how out of her depth she was.

"You can't have been sure," she said evenly.

"Too many mouths to feed at home," he shrugged. "Had to run out of luck at some point."

"Yes, yes, may the odds be ever in your favour," Jaime drawled from the corner of the holding room, his wit feeling as dry as his throat. "Although luck won't help you in the capital."

"I wouldn't say that," Brienne finally turned her attention to him, astonishing blue eyes narrowed in a glare that promised she'd find a way to shut him up if he didn't do so by himself. "Sometimes the tourney is all about being in the right place at the right time."

Jaime exhaled in mock defeat. "Go and say your goodbyes, children. Miss O'Tarth and I have some business to discuss."

"We aren't children," Arya retorted ferociously as the Kingsguard escorted her and Gendry away. "I'm fifteen. You're seventeen. We aren't stupid."

"He didn't say that."

"He looked like he wanted to."

Jaime couldn't deny the girl was perceptive but he'd worry about that later. It was going to be hard enough convincing Brienne that his intentions weren't entirely selfish never mind adding anyone else into the equation.

"So," he said, pushing himself off the wall and strolling casually over to his new partner. "How've you been?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I'm guessing that additions to this universe will likely stay connected ficlets for now, but I'm hoping my next one will introduce the tributes (Arya and Gendry) and Jaime as well :)


End file.
